Winter's Tear
by Warrior Nun
Summary: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Four Clans of the Seasons, they were old as Time itself. Same but separated. One day, a doomed romance blossomed between Winter and Spring. BunnyFrost
1. The Doomed Romance of Winter and Spring

This is my first Rise of the Guardians fanfiction, and to be honest the closest info I have on it is from either Wikipedia, wikias, and available trailers. But I have to admit, it was awesome! I am counting down the days and finding the books! So jumping on the bandwagon, I thought about testing the waters of BunnyFrost or E. Aster Bunnymund/Jack Frost. As we count down the days of the premiere screening of the film this month, let's not waste any time and please enjoy this cross-over.

Featured pairing: BunnyFrost, onesided DarkIce (Pitch/Jack Frost)

Warning: May contain slash/yaoi, many forms of violence, strong language, possible genderbending, possible case of OOC-ness, and things of that nature. The current rating may or may not rise sometime in the near future. Viewer discretion is advised.

Setting: AU-ish version of the 21st era of Avatar: The Last Airbender, may contain some mentions of the said universe.

Rise of the Guardians and Avatar: The Last Airbender is both respectively owned by William Joyce and, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. Certain OCs are owned/created by either myself or Ralyena Starrling.

I would like to thank BAMmwuahaha for editing this, thank you my dear friend

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Prologue: The Doomed Romance of Winter and Spring

We have heard stories about the Spirit World.

Hei Bai, guardian of the forest.

Tui and her partner, La, spirits of the Earth's moon and ocean.

Wan Shi Ton, spirit of vast knowledge.

Koh, the malicious face-stealing spirit.

Even the mysterious Painted Lady herself.

It is also the resting place for the countless past lives of the Avatar, but do we truly know all spirits?

There is a tale that has been lost within time itself; forgotten by the mortals of the physical world, but not by the spirits themselves.

Long ago, long before Avatar Aang or Korra's time…there were spirit clans that can control the four seasons of the said world.

Winter

Spring

Summer

Autumn

They were old as Time itself, same but separated.

Then one day the most unlike of seasons, Winter and Spring, came together. As a young female Winter Spirit was adding snow to the leafless trees, a thick tree branch fell on her. The poor spirit couldn't get up and no matter how loud she screamed for help no one would come. Then suddenly a creature that the Winter Spirit least expected to show up, came. It was one of the Spring Spirits, and a Pooka on top of that. He looked at the branch on the Winter Spirit's leg then looked to said spirit. Without a word, the Spring Spirit lifted with ease the heavy branch off of her. The Winter Spirit was grateful to the Pooka, but her leg was broken and she didn't get up. Again without a word, the Spring Spirit picked up the Winter Spirit and walked along to his hut to tend to her. After her leg was properly wrapped up the Winter Spirit asked why the Spring Spirit saved her. And the Spring Spirit finally spoke and said:

"Because Spirits help each other."

The Winter Spirit was so moved by his words, that she didn't know how to respond to that. True that their roles benefit both their world and the physical world, but there were rare times that spirits actually come to each other's aid. And this situation could be counted as one of such times. Needless to say, the mere words such as "thank you" couldn't express how grateful she was to her savior. As she healed, the Winter Spirit slowly fell in love with the Pooka.

But unknown to her, there is someone who desired the Winter Spirit herself.

A spirit who seemed to have been born of Darkness itself, had admired the Winter Spirit from afar for centuries; marveled by her sheer beauty and her graceful dancing to bring forth the winter cold upon the physical world. Now he had gathered enough courage, he finally declared his love to her.

However, the Winter Spirit didn't return his love, since her heart belonged to the Pooka.

Heartbroken and rejected, the Dark Spirit's sorrow quickly turned into rage. "If I can't have her…then no one will."

And true to his word, he reduced the poor Winter Spirit into mere snow and mist; not a trace of what used to be her former self was left behind. As quick as he had done the deed, the spirit vanished to return into darkness.

The Winter clan grieved for the loss of their beloved kin, but the one who suffered the most was the Spring Spirit himself who had saved her.

He never had got the chance to return her love. He wanted to find the one who took the spirit's life and avenge her death. But even if he did, it would not bring back his beloved Winter Spirit; however, little does the Pooka know that Fate had something in store for the two spirits.

This is their story…

Helpful critiques will be nice, please be gentle.


	2. Chapter 1: Universe's Scorn

I'm surprised on how many people who liked the first chapter! I'm really honored about this, hopefully I would do everyone justice and keep up the good work on this latest piece of mine.

Disclaimer: I wish I may…I wish I might…but it is all just a dream. If I did own either Rise of the Guardians and Avatar series (both The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra), well, I would have made a ton of BunnyFrost fans happy.

Beta'd by BAMmwuahaha, a thousand thanks to you! :D

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Chapter 1: Universe's Scorn

Present day…heh!

Present time!

AHAHAHAHAHA-

_Serial Experiment Lain_

* * *

Republic City…

The capital of the United Republic state, a shining example of the unification of four nations, where benders and non-benders can live side by side.

Like the Avatar, it is the physical representation of unity; the epitome of peace and the Fire Nation's redemption after the Hundred Year War, only to be thrown deeper into the inferno when unrest and mistrust to benders arise, giving birth to the Equalist Revolution.

But that is a story for another time.

As technology advanced, so does the acknowledgement of science. The population slowly gained understanding of the world around them, such as how their native element reacts with another or how the human body actually generates its own electricity! Not only that, people became more tolerant to each other, may that person be a bender or otherwise. No one fought each other over who was better or who had more rights. However, no matter how much life had been advanced, there is one thing that has, and always be, remained the same in the world of Bending Elements.

(1) _**Ding-dong**_

_**Ding-dong~**_

…

_**Ding-dong~**_

_**Ding~ dong~**_

"Crap! It had already started!" a curse escaped from his lips, causing the said youth, probably around 17, to pick up speed. He had only twenty minutes left to beat the second bell; otherwise he would never hear the end of it from his homeroom teacher. Or from his arch nemesis…but no time for that, legs must not fail him!

A pair of blue eyes glanced down at his wristwatch and clicked his tongue as he found out that the batteries had died on him. Oh joy.

He ignored an occasional double take that was sent his way. He was used to it by now; it wasn't every day that they see a kid with…

"Almost there!" the school was just in front of him now…he could feel it.

_Hold on…that clock is…! _

"Oh, no…Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapityc rapcrapcraaaaaaaaap!"

It would seem that he won't make it at this rate, his legs were about to give in underneath him. There was only one thing that he could do, even if he had to break some rules while doing it!

Waving his arms in a fluid motion, he conjured up some water out of thin air before manipulating the liquid to freeze into an arc. Setting his knees to be bent, he used all the momentum he had before springing up to use the frozen arc as a makeshift slide, sliding towards the entrance of the building before pushing the doors open. The youth dropped to his knees as he slid across the hall, since the tiled floor was thankfully slick. Once he slowed down, a grin grew on his face as he took in the situation around him.

He was in the school.

There were few minutes to spare.

And above all…he was not late.

"YES!" he cheered, jumping up. "Yes! Sweet jumping elephant koi yes! And not a minute to…"

"Jack Frost…why am I not surprised?"

His victory was cut short as he slowly looked over, only to find the one face that he would rather not see first thing in the morning.

"Le gasp!" he dramatically spoke out when he found out who the owner of the voice was. "Honor Student Katsura Itou of the Honor Student Society? What are you doing here?"

The said student, now known as Katsura, turn up his nose and glared down at Jack, as if he had just stepped on something foul, like fallen dung of a poodle monkey.

"I was just making my rounds as usual…" he responded, keeping a sneer in his tone. "Until I ran into you, being late to class, like always."

Jack stared at his schoolmate as if he was crazy before sending him a glare of his own.

"Me…late for class?" he let out a small laugh as he stood tall, even though he was about a couple inches shorter than him. There is no way that he would let this guy walk all over him, again. "Hey, I'll have you know that I have a few minutes to…"

_**Ding-Dong~**_

_**Ding~ dong~**_

…

_**Ding~ dong~**_

_**Ding-dong~**_

The last note rang out until silence follows, Katsura was now smirking in triumph as he stared at Jack, whose smile was still on his face but clearly was despairing inwardly.

"I must have done something to the Universe in one past life."

The only answer he could receive is a firm grip on his arm.

"Let's go, Frost…time for class."

* * *

Class C – 4

"Alright, class, park your rears in your sits and please save the kitten whispers and girly gossips for later," the teacher sniffed for a moment before readjusting his glasses and turning to the chalk board. "Now today, I would like to remind you all…"

But the teacher was quickly interrupted when a knock on the classroom door was heard. The shoji-style door slide open, only to reveal a dark-haired young man holding a familiar younger teen by the arm. Of course…only an idiot would be blind enough to miss the hair color of…

"Jack Frost, tardy again." His snobbish but slightly monotone voice was heard as he stared at the black sheep of his class. Then he turned his attention to the familiar older student. "And good morning to you, Katsura."

Snickers were almost barely covered in class but a quick warning glare was enough to shut the entire mass up, unless they have to suffer through the infamous weekend-sacrificing detention.

The dark haired student bowed a bit before (a bit roughly) pushing now named Jack inside the classroom.

"I'm sorry, Sensei," he apologized in a voice so respectful, that Jack had to resist the urge to roll his blue eyes and gag. There was enough gemsbok bullshit that would fertilize the barest land of the Earth Kingdom. "But, _Jack_ here…" the way he placed an emphasis on his name, the younger teen could tell that he held some sort of disdain against him. Not surprising though. Somehow, his mere presence just gets on most people's bad side. "Once again needed an escort after failing to arrive to his class on time."

_That's because you held me back on __**purpose**__, you stupid hog monkey! _The younger boy mentally seethed, clenching his teeth. That is what he wanted to say out loud, but Jack knew from past experience that it was proven futile. And by the spirits, did he have to learn again and again to know that lesson hard.

Light reflected on the teacher's glasses as he nodded after listening to the honor student. Something that Jack found kinda creepy, how does indoor light work on specs like that?

"I see now," then he turned to his student in front of him, looking impassive. "This is the ninth time that you are tardy, Mr. Frost." Already, Jack could feel ice literally forming from his words. "Nine. Times." He drawled those two words out as if they're separate sentences, placing specific emphasis on both of them.

All Jack could do was to hang his head and stare at the tiles of the classroom floor; he didn't have to know that a certain percentage of his class was practically relishing this morning scene.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself, Mr. Frost?"

Silence settles in the air, everyone seemed to be leaning in to see how Jack would respond. It was no secret that the honor student had some sort of grudge against him (but who has these days?) Some say it was Jack's particular background, but most would say otherwise on the topic. On what seemed to be forever – but in real time, it was only a minute or so- Jack finally lifted his head up and gave his teacher a cheeky smile.

"One more, and hopefully I'll get a prize out of this."

To be fair, it wasn't very witty, but it does get more than just chuckles from almost the entire class. Jack smiled at the result, feeling proud to bring smiles to his "bleak" morning while glancing over his shoulder to see the look of disdain on Katsura's face. He held back the urge to stick out his tongue at him, since he was in enough trouble already for today. The teacher turned to his class and simply cleared his throat. As if on cue, everyone quickly shut up.

Sensei nodded at the result as he turned to Jack.

"I'm in a rather good mood for today, so I guess I would let you off the hook," then he looked at him in the eye, still looking impassive as ever. "But let me remind you once _again_, Mr. Frost: Please be on time. Are we clear?"

Jack made a small salute. "Like ice, sir."

"If you please, take your seat." Then Sensei turned to Katsura. "You may go now, Mr. Itou."

The brunet bowed a bit, while throwing a quick glare at Jack. "Thank you, Sensei." was all he could say before leaving the class. Jack took this opportunity to head for his seat. As the young teen head down the seat aisle, Sensei turned back to the board.

"As I was saying before being rudely interrupted, today, I'm going to remind you all the upcoming Culture Performance this month. And top four benders will be chosen to represent their nation…"

Jack took his seat at the end of one row, directly beside the window. He tuned out some of the beginning of the lecture and glanced over to his reflection. There, he could see his own image if he looked very carefully around the glares of the morning sun.

He could see his duplicate-self staring back at him; from the blue hood peeking out from underneath his black school blazer to his light blue eyes and fair skin. His choice in fashion wasn't what turned people's heads; after all he had seen some of his schoolmates customize their own school uniform with a hint of their own fashion. The combination of fair skin and blue eyes might hinted that he could be of mixed blood, aside the fact that he was from the Water Tribe.

No…those things weren't what made people stop on the streets and stare at him.

Or look down at him as if he was some spider rat that was recently squashed into a bloody mess.

It was his hair.

Here was a bit of an explanation…his counting might be off, but he is pretty sure that 99% in the city, and probably the _entire_ world, there are different shades of dark hair from all four nations. Jack, on the other hand, possessed white hair. Not in either black or brown, just shockingly white, like fresh fallen snow in the winter morning. Back the days of Avatar Aang, it was considered a stuff of legends but nowadays most people would say that it was some form of genetic mutation.

Others, well…it gives them enough reason to make his life Hell.

After giving his reflection a good gander, Jack inwardly sighed as he ran his hand through his hair before turning attention to today's lesson.

_Maybe I did something to make the Universe hate me…_

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Please leave a review.

Author's note(s): 1) I'm trying to replicate the same bell chime that they played at my childhood schools in Japan. I don't know if I got it right.


	3. Chapter 2: Wilting Flowers and Ties

I'm quite surprised on how many people that have been placing this story on favorites and story alerts! To be honest, I never thought that this piece wouldn't get noticed…it was amazing.

Neither Rise of the Guardians or Avatar: the Last Airbender were not owned by me. Certain Other Characters that will be introduced, on the other hand, are owned by either me or Ralyena Starrling.

You can also check out her BunnyFrost fanfiction and other works on deviantart under the username JackalyenMystique.

Special thanks to my betas, BAMmwahaha and Gabriel Nichole. I couldn't be here without you, ladies

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Chapter 2: Wilting Flowers and Tearing Ties

Rooftop during lunch time…

"Gah, finally! I thought freedom wouldn't come!"

Jack slumped back on one of the available benches, finally gained the chance to relax once he had gotten away from the mathematics course. Spirits does that teacher talk as slow as he walked. Well, more accurately, shuffled his slipper-clad feet in. He wondered if he were a turtle duck in one life. Honestly, when will be the time to use something like calculus in real life? Not to mention that the said teacher has a particular habit on placing a problem on the board and expect everyone else in the class to get it right on the first try. And let's not forget the fact that he is retiring soon and probably wanted out of that job as soon as possible. Sometimes Jack wondered if any complaints reached to the headmaster yet…

The pale-haired teen sighed as he sat up straight in his seat, stretching his arms out.

"Hopefully they won't run out of those seaweed noodle bread…" he muttered himself.

As soon as he said that out loud, his stomach let out a gurgling sound. Jack glared down at his stomach as if it made some sort of unforgivable crime. "Oh, pipe down, you." It was his alarm clock's fault this morning; he had no other choice but to abandon breakfast.

And that includes forgetting his wallet. Thus forcing him to rely on the kindness of others.

Just then he heard a cry and a crash somewhere in the courtyard. Jack narrowed his blue eyes as he stood up and head over to the railing. He leaned over and takes a good look around before spotting what made the crash. A look of grimace marred his pale face when he saw a certain small group, probably around three from his viewpoint, ganging up to a lone boy. Not far from them what looked like sporting equipment, soccer balls were scattered not too far from them. From the looks of his shaved head and a simple beaded necklace, he's of Air Nomad. He could not tell which year he is, but from his youthful appearance, Jack would assume that he is a first year. But to the third years, fresh meat.

He felt his nails digging into his palms when one of the boys pushed the first year again, causing him to lose his balance. He could not hear them but he was sure that one of them is laughing as if it was the funniest thing in the world. Make a show of dominance and use cruelty to get laughs…kind of sick in his opinion. At first Jack was wondering why this boy didn't airbend in order to evade them until he realize that this kid is might still be on the rookie level. This is not good…

So he is both a non-bender and a sitting turtle duck.

When one boy earthbends a hard looking dirt clod, that is when Jack knew that he needed to act now and fast.

Seeing that they're in the secluded part of the courtyard, an idea formed in his mind. Once again, he bends the water vapor out of the air and forms them into soccer ball sized bullets. Jack waited for the right moment before sending the water bullets onto the bullies, soaking them to the bone. This gave the small boy the chance to escape, signaling Jack to step away from the railing before either one of the teens figure out who waterbended them.

He wanted to do a little victory dance, but he has enough dignity to resist. But that doesn't stop him to imitate those superheroes from the manga that he reads time to time.

"Please, please…there's no need for thanking me, I'm just your friendly neighborhood waterbender!"

"Did you just rip that off from the _Spider Rat-Man_ manga?"

Jack stopped on his mini "superhero" moment, and turned around to find amused expressions of certain two faces that he was really glad to see.

A light-brunet young teen that seemed to be around Jack's age or older; his school appearance was a bit of a contrast to Jack's, he still have the tie and white button up shirt. However, he had it a bit loosened up along with a few buttons undone. Beside him was a dark haired young girl, only difference is that her uniform is in a style of a sailor fuku; that outfit alone makes her a freshman.

"But you can't deny the sheer awesomeness of that quote," Jack replied with a grin. "So, did ya get my food, Blane?"

The teen, now known as Blane, held up a plastic bag filled with bread and food.

"You're welcome, Jack…and we love you too," he sarcastically spoke, rolling his dull green eyes. "And yes, we have your seaweed noodle bread."

The girl just smiled as she shoved her hand into the bag before pulling out something else. "We also bought melon bread as well! The kind with chocolate chips!" she sounded excited as she held up the pastry package that has a mention by the corner saying "the chocolate chip special". That small thing was practically bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. Jack couldn't help but laugh at her hyperactive nature. Honestly, she seems to have run on pure sugar.

"Thanks, really Blane." Jack spoke, sounding sincere in his gratefulness. Then he turned to the girl. "And you too, Justine. I really need something sweet as well." Blane just gave him a half-smile before taking a seat upon the rooftop concrete.

"So, care to explain why that you're re-enacting one of the many classic mangas?" he asked as he threw the other teen a packaged seaweed noodle bread. Then Blane paused as he thought it over. "Excluding _One More Day_…"

Jack caught his lunch in midair before taking a seat in front of his two friends as Justine dove through the bag to bring out a juice pouch. "Well, let's see…" he spoke while unwrap the bread. "This morning I was late…got caught by that hog monkey face, Itou…went through a LOOOOONG lecture on fractions by that turtle duck-neck." Then he paused to take a bite out of the bread, savoring the taste of the yakisoba flavor from the seaweed noodles before swallowing the piece. "Oh and also, I found the three stooges messing around again; this time with an Air Nomad kid."

He took another bite from his bread. Spirits does this bread tasted good…

Blane just simply pulled out a carton of coffee milk as Justine down her melon bread before reaching into the plastic bag for another one.

"Oh, _them_ again?" the way Blane placed an emphasis on the word "them" is sounded like he just experienced a really unpleasant aftertaste. The way his face was scrunched up a bit reminded Jack back on the day when he dared him to sample that sea prune stew dish at Narook's Seaweed Noodlery. Poor guy hasn't been able to be near anything that has the word "prune" in it. "Don't those three have better things to do other than get off of the suffering of others?"

Blane poked the straw into the coffee milk box before taking a sip.

The white-haired boy stared at him for a moment as silence hung over them, save for the fact that Justine is downing yet another melon bread while making audible "nom-nom" sounds. Then finally, one of them spoke up.

"Is that meant to be a rhetorical question?"

The other teen made one more sip of his coffee milk, and turned his attention to Jack.

"Well, one cannot help but be curious," he replied. "I was about to ask if they kick goat puppies into the river on their free time, but that would be beneath me."

Jack could not help but laugh, inwardly glad that he hadn't taken another bite of his seaweed noodle bread or else he would choke.

"Close but so far, brother…" he released a few more chuckles before calming himself in order to finish his lunch.

There were times that he wondered why he hung out with these two, but decided it doesn't really matter. Besides, what else could he ask for?

So they dug into their lunch in silence for the rest of the period, enjoying the peaceful moment till the time has come to once again assume class.

Oh the joys of being a high school student.

The bell chimes for today, but this time to signal the end for today.

After enduring long hours on lectures that most students are most likely letting it pour into one ear and out the other, while others made vigorous notes all the way down to the littlest thing. Only to be receiving too much homework that would require them to spend the entire weekend to do it. That and also club meetings that were thrown into the mix…

Some are lucky to have enough time to get started on their homework between classes; others have a few that can be done at home.

The unlucky ones, however, well, they have to sacrifice yet another weekend to study.

Jack Frost and his posse, they have some plans other than homework.

"So, you guys feel like getting owned at Litwak's today?" Jack spoke up as they walked through the familiar streets to the Republic City shopping arcade.

Blane scoffed as he glared at him challengingly. "As if, you would win against the likes of me…" then a sly grin grew on his face. "I've been practicing."

Jack smiled back with his own trademark smirk. "Game on."

The youngest of the group didn't paid any mind to the brewing mini rivalry that her two guy friends are having, but rather focusing on skipping and singing a familiar tune that everyone tries to keep out of their head.

"S-U-G-A-R

Jump into your racing car

Say SUGAR RUSH! Sugar Rush Hey!"

A groan escaped from the other brunet's lips as he rolled his eyes. "Guh, Justine! I just got that out of my head two weeks ago!"

The said girl pouted as she sent Blane a mock glare. "I like that song..." there was a childish whining to the tone of her voice. The way she acted alone made her seem younger than her actual age. Jack knew otherwise that it was one of the few things that tend to throw people off, thanks to his past experience; such as one time…

"A few rounds on _Singing Groundhogs_ would do a trick," then he looked over to Blane, who just glared at him. "It's either that or _Whack-A-Badgermole_."

They finally reached to the familiar building, hearing the ding of the door chime to signal them coming in as the digitized sounds of guns blasting and strange one-liners filled the air. The building is slightly packed, not surprising due to the fact that it house one of the two most popular arcade games of the city. The mixture of popcorn and flaming fire flakes fill the air as Jack stepped further in, his vision is adjusting to the change of light since the interior is slightly dim and the only things that illuminate their way through is thanks to the various arcade games.

The white-haired teen made a brief nod at the owner who gave him a smile before answering a phone call in his office. He walked further in, followed by Blane and Justine to see if there are any available games that they could play for a bit. Jack looked over to see the only female of their group let out a childish whine when she saw that both of the arcade cabinets to a certain racing game were having a long line waiting. He couldn't help but laugh how comical her pouty expression looked.

"Let's just find some other games to play…" he suggested before looking around and then spotted one of the promising games. "How does _Taiko Master_ sound?"

Before he could get an answer, Jack heard a familiar voice that he would rather not hear.

"Well, look at we have here…the albino elephant rat boy!"

Jack felt himself tense as he came face to face with whom might be the most unpleasant example of a human being in the entire city. Possibly the whole world as well…

Standing before him was another youth, looking at least a year older than Jack (and additionally taller, much to his chagrin). His long dark brown hair was pulled back in a low ponytail by a dark blue band, leaving a single strand of hair to hang by the side of his masculine tanned face as he stared down at him with taunting royal blue eyes. His uniform was well-kept compared to his own casual take but not to the point on being obsessive like that lap poodle bitch monkey Katsura. However, there is one more difference of his uniform's appearance; despite the lighting of the building, the uniform itself looked like it was dried out in haste.

Jack found it hard to keep a straight face when he recalled the lunch period.

"Maxxie, nice to see you too…" then he made a dramatic pause as he take a good look at the latter's uniform. "There's something different about your outfit," Jack looked up, giving him a shit-eating grin. "Did you actually try to dry clean your own clothes through waterbending? Progress…"

He smiled with satisfaction as he watched the older boy's face grimace, reminding him of a snarling hog monkey.

"That's Maxence to you!" he sneered. "And for your information, I was forced to wear a spare by the school as they dry these. No thanks to that freak incident this afternoon…"

A pale eyebrow was raised as he cocked his head to the side, feigning innocence. "Really? Please elaborate."

His blue eyes shifted over to a couple more of Maxence's associates that came up on either side of the said brunet. On his right was another brunet, only difference is that his skin is pale in contrast to his companion. Jack could tell that he is firebender, beside the fact that he has golden eyes to signify his bending ability. There was a embroidery patch of a two-pronged flame sewn on his blazer sleeve, signifying the rank of a Fire Nation noble that he looked up once in world history class. His dark hair was cut short, and styled to look wild and spikey. He vaguely noted the freckles on his pale complexion, despite the semi-dimmed light. Jack could tell that he would like to punch him in the face with a flaming fist if he could say something as little as commenting about the sky.

"What about you, Duilio?" He asked, smiling sweetly. "Do you know what happened?" Then Jack let out a sarcastic laugh. "Of course not, you're probably too busy to come up some really lame pick-up lines that for some odd reason…what's your favorite line again? Oh, yeah…set all ladies' hearts aflame!"

A growl was audible from the taller teen as he practically snarled at him. Jack was starting to notice that they were gaining an audience; most of them are turning their attention away from the games and set their eyes on them. From the corner of his eye, he saw a small girl in pink ran off to the office.

"Watch your mouth, you piece of…!"

Just when he was about to stalk over him, with pure ill-intent, the owner stepped in between them. Well, more like, placing a hand on Duilio in case he was about to thrash him.

"That would be enough from you two," he spoke in a firm warning tone. Then he stared at Maxence in the eye, something in his eye that screamed out that he won't feed him any gemsbok bullshit. "Especially _you_ and your friends, young man…the last thing I want is to call your father about this."

Jack was not sure but he did notice that the ponytail boy flinched as hothead glanced at him with uneasiness; somehow he felt satisfaction at this. However, he was having a hard time trying to ignore the occasional glance that he was getting from a certain left hand lackey.

"It won't happen again…sir." The third and final member spoke up, causing Jack to look down to find the carpet floor rather interesting. Just have been shampooed…

"It better be…now if you three aren't here to play any of the games, I'd suggest you leave." The older man spoke, looking serious on making that promise that he mentioned.

The brunet nodded as the owner removed his hand from Duilio's shoulder before turning his attention to the onlookers who quickly went back to their games. Some are resetting up their matches after one of their avatars ended in a tie. The owner nodded before heading back to his office, but stayed behind near one of the arcade games just in case there was further trouble. A look of grimace marred Maxence's face as he purposely bumped Jack's shoulder roughly while heading for the exit.

"This isn't over…" he hissed, sending him a glare.

Jack glared back in return. "Bring it, hog monkey."

Blane kept Justine back as he backed Jack up with a glare of his own when Duilio bumped his friend's other shoulder, twice as roughly. The white-haired youth winced as he mentally noted that his right shoulder would be bruised. The third followed, but the only difference between him and the other two was that he didn't try to graze him in some way. He only stopped to glance at Jack for a bit before heading out of the door.

The latter on the other hand just tried not to acknowledge him.

Once he knew that the last member of Maxence's "gang" (for the better lack of word) was gone, Jack could let out a breath that he didn't know that he was holding. He gripped his blazer sleeve out of habit, keeping his attention close to the floor so that no one could see the expression he had on his face. He was praying to whatever form of omnipresent deity that created this plane of existence for no one, at least for a moment, not pay any attention to him because of his hair.

"Jack…"

He felt Blane's hand upon his shoulder; Jack looked up to see him by his side. Concern and worry was evident on his face, Justine held the same expression as well, looking like a child that has lost her cat.

"Are you ok?" the other male asked, clearly expected a full and honest answer from him. Typical of Blane…he supposes that is one of the reasons why Jack stuck with him for a while. Same goes for Justine.

"Yeah…I'm ok…" then he saw one of Blane's eyebrows rising up. He sighed as he looked at his friend straight in the eye. "I _am_ ok. For reals."

Blane stared at Jack for a moment, before finally speaking up.

"Don't say 'for reals'. Ever." Then he pats him on the shoulder before looking around the arcade.

"…Way to kill the mood, man!"

Justine just grins as she grabs his arm and practically dragged him to catch up Blane.

"Come on, we can get me a plushie from one of those claw games!"

"That little son of a whore!"

A curse escaped from Maxence's lips as he kicked a stray fallen soda can across the street. Before gravity brings it back down, he bends the water from a nearby sewage and skewered the can with a small but thick icicle. Seeing the poor piece of metal fell to the ground with a clank as the ice shatters made him feel satisfied…barely. If only he could do that same thing to the albino elephant rat and get away with it…

Behind him, Duilio released a loud growl before unleashing a punch out of a fire ball into a garbage can, setting the entire contents into ablaze.

"I swear…I'm going to bash his face in the next time I see him!" the firebender snarled as he watched the garbage turn into till the contents inside blackens and charred. His fingers were twitching with anticipation, as if begging to find something else to burn.

The third member of their party nodded as he kept a good distance between them, just in case they unintentionally direct their anger towards him.

"Y-yeah…" his voice was low, almost barely audible but the sense of uneasiness was evident. Sounding like he was reluctant about causing bodily harm on a certain white-haired boy. Thankfully, two of his…friends, for a better lack of word, were too occupied with themselves to vent out their anger to notice this.

Nearby, almost unnoticeable, he spotted a small flower that is blooming beautifully through the cracks of concrete. With a closer inspection, he could see that the said flower is within the shade of the alley walls.

…Isa…

…

Isa…

…Isa!

"Isa, what are those?"

The dark haired brunet looked down when he felt a tug on his shirt by a familiar chubby hand. The younger boy, probably around 6 or 7 in age, pointed out at a small patch of flowers that were growing underneath the bridge nearby the White Dragon River. His head was almost obscured by the hood of his blue jacket which is one size too big for him. With a closer inspection, closely followed by his younger companion, he could see the familiar cream-white color and their heart shaped leaves.

"I know that those flowers are," Isa spoke, as the smaller boy still kept his hold on the hem of his shirt. "They're called moon flowers; I remember seein' of those in an antique shop with my mom once."

The boy stared at them as the taller boy explained them briefly. "They're pretty," then Isa looked down to see him releasing his hand from the shirt's hem and started to approach the flowers. Isa was about to stop him but his smaller companion already picked a few as he stood up with a bright smile. "I'm gonna give these to Kathy!" he chirped happily. "I hope she'll like them!"

The moment he head out, the flowers quickly wilted as soon as they were exposed to light. The boy stopped in his tracks and stared at the result of his intended gift in unnerving silence. Isa could not tell what kind of expression his younger companion had, since the hood covered his face from view but he could see the tiny shoulders shaking and soft sobs underneath.

He really hated to see him like this, crying almost seemed unnatural from someone who could still see the world in a bright sunny day as this. Then an idea came to him.

Isa walked over to the crying boy before kneeling down and gently plucking one of the flowers from his tiny hands. The sounds of sobbing slowly ceased when a pair of wide blue eyes stared up at him as he took a strand of snow white hair. He took the wilted flower and tied the stem around his hair like a barrette; Isa let it fall out of his fingers back within the hoodie.

He smiled softly as the small boy watched in marvel when the flower bloomed back to its former beauty within the shade of his hood.

"I was about to tell you, Jackie…moon flowers only stayed like that in shades." Isa explained, using the smallest words as possible for the younger to understand.

His response was clear as Jack smiled widely before throwing himself into his arms.

"Thank you, Isa!"

Isa…

….

"Hey…Isamu!"

Green eyes blinked as he tore his eyes away to come face to face with a rather peeved off Maxence.

"Uh…yeah?" it was the closest thing to an intelligent response. He was inwardly praying to whatever spirit that created this plain of existence for the older teen not to bend water and use it as a bludgeoning tool. Not that he would go that far, but still…

Maxence instead sighed, probably in frustration as he shook his head. Then he motioned him to follow.

"Come on…all this stress has been buildin' me up an appetite…" he suggested, well…more like ordered in a way. Duilio followed after him, with his hands shoved in his pockets. He seemed calmed but with a trained eye, he still looked like he was going to burn someone's face off within seconds.

"Um…right…" that was all Isamu could say before following after them out of the alleyway. Better not to look for a gift inside of the ostrich-horse's mouth…otherwise he would have lost his head. Most of the time there were perks on being friends with guys like Max and Duilio, however he there were times that he wished for some things to be…different.

_Jackie…_

* * *

Please send a review/critique please

Author's note(s):

Spider-Rat Man: Obviously a parody to the acclaimed graphic novel series by Stan Lee, _Spider-Man_. I'm going to guess that in the Avatar universe, they would have mangas as well in their own version of "present time"

Litwak's: a reference to the arcade shop from the Disney film, _Wreck-It Ralph_. Sugar Rush theme song is by J-pop group, AKB48


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